The Ducks badly wanted Ryan Kesler back in the first week of March. They finally got their man in the final week of June.

Wanting to match up better against the Stanley Cup champion Kings and other fellow Western Conference powers, the Ducks truly coveted the playoff-tested center to put alongside star captain Ryan Getzlaf for the playoffs.

While they couldn’t get it done for the postseason, they closed the deal this time.

The 10-year veteran, who spent all of his years with the Canucks, called it “the start of a new chapter in my life.”

“For me and my family, it’s a positive move,” Kesler said. “We’re excited to be going to Anaheim. At the same time, we’ve called Vancouver home for the last 11 years. We have friends on the team, friends in the city and the organization has treated us very well.

The teams will also swap third-round selections, with the Ducks sending Vancouver theirs for this year and the Canucks giving up theirs in 2015. But this trade is all about Kesler and the Ducks’ desire for a Cup run that didn’t materalize.

The Kings defeated the Ducks in a tough seven-game series that was decided by a 6-2 wipeout in Game 7. The Ducks realized they couldn’t match up at center with the Kings, who went to Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter, Jarret Stoll and Mike Richards.

But the Ducks had anticipated a deficiency at the March 5 trade deadline and put on an full-court press to acquire Kesler, who indicated he wanted to be dealt after 10 seasons with the Canucks. Multiple offers were made, but the Canucks opted to hold on to their gritty, unhappy forward.

Ducks general manager Bob Murray didn’t give up on him. Murray made no secret of his plans to upgrade beyond Getzlaf and his prime targets were Kesler and Ottawa’s Jason Spezza. He had already let respected but fading veteran Saku Koivu walk away to free agency.

The Ducks had the salary cap space to easily absorb Kesler’s $5 million salary for the next two seasons, along with numerous potential-filled youngsters that have already begun to filter their way onto the roster.

Meanwhile, Kesler had the Ducks as one of the six teams he would waive his no-trade clause for at the trade deadline and acknowledged he limited his choices in recent days to Anaheim or Chicago. The Ducks were able to play off that leverage.

With Getzlaf and Kesler, Murray now feels “we have a great one-two punch up the middle.”

“We have size, speed and grit,” Kesler said. “I’d say that Ryan Getzlaf’s one of the best centers in the game. I’m going to be behind him and do my job.”

Murray didn’t have to give up the No. 10 pick in the draft, which they acquired from Ottawa at the 2013 draft in trading winger Bobby Ryan. The Ducks used it Friday on left wing Nick Ritchie, a 6-foot-2, 225-pound power forward who had 39 goals with Peterborough of the Ontario Hockey League.

In Kesler, 29, the Ducks get a proven two-way pivot who can play defense (won the Selke Trophy in 2011 as the NHL’s top defensive forward) and also score (six 20-goal seasons and a career high of 41).

Kesler had just 43 points last season but led the Canucks with 25 goals, including nine on the power play. That’s one of the areas the Ducks struggled at mightily, particularly at key times in the playoffs.

Winning faceoffs is another problem area for the Ducks and Kesler patently addresses that. His win-percentage rates for the last five seasons are 52.6, 57.4, 53.6, 57.4 and 55.1 and he hasn’t been under 50 percent since his third year in the league.

Kesler’s grinding style of play has led to injuries and some missed games over the years. It is something Murray is happy to live with.

“We understand there’s going to be injuries along the way,” Murray said. “He’s the type of guy we need in the playoffs, let’s put it that way. He plays so hard.”

Murray has sought to correct their club’s deficiencies, strongly suggesting after the team’s break-up meetings that their franchise regular-season records of 54 wins and 116 points didn’t meet their true desired goal.

The Kings, who’ve put little interest in winning the Pacific Division, finished third behind the Ducks and San Jose but beat both on the way to the Cup.

“I just think we’re a better team today than we were yesterday,” Murray said. “I don’t know much closer we are (to a Cup). We’ll find out come October and November.”

Bonino, 26, had a breakout 2013-14 for the Ducks with career highs of 22 goals and 27 assists. His loss will be felt as the Connecticut native had a penchant for scoring big playoff goals, including his Game 6 score against Dallas that clinched the first-round series win.

Sbisa, 24, played just 30 games in an injury-plagued season and never fully lived up to lofty expectations and develop into a top-four defenseman as Murray hoped.

Losing the salary cap amounts of Bonino ($1.9 million) and Sbisa ($2.175 million) means the Ducks will add only $925,000 to their cap figure and will still have about $10 million to spend within their expected $60 million budget.

This is the third major trade Murray has made at the NHL draft but the first in which he’s acquiring a star player. Murray dealt away Cup-winning defenseman Chris Pronger in 2009 — with Sbisa as one piece in return — and Ryan a year ago.